I was not expecting to read a comic book, but this was a pleasant surprise. I like how the author, Art Spiegelman, was actually a comic book artist so he used his talent to tell his father’s story. I also liked how the author weaved his current life with the memories of his father. The book did seem quite heavy, not light like I imagine a comic to be. But unbeknownst to me, comics and graphic novels are usually dark, thanks to the knowledge of my classmates saving me from my unintended ignorance.
In the book, the author is very callous towards him father especially when his mother is brought up in conversation. He nearly blew a gasket when his father said that he had thrown out his mother’s diaries. Also, the author mentions to his wife that he feels like he is should have died instead of his older brother, jealous of a brother he never got to meet. While his father was telling his story as a Holocaust survivor, he was distraught over the loss of his first son, Richieu. This made Spiegelman insanely jealous but he hid it well.
It is interesting to hear a survivor story not written by the survivor himself. This is the first book we have read in this class that was written by the child of a survivor. I cannot imagine how stressful this could have been for Spiegelman, to write his father’s story and say it exactly how his father portrayed it. I wonder how many second generation survivors tell their parents’ stories. How do they feel, knowing that their parents went through such an atrocity. Not only is it painful for the survivors but their children too.